HELP YOURSELF
International Students and the SCAA

The SCAA serves the CSUEB international student community with a variety of programs and services. The SCAA tutor training examines learning issues for international students and the tutors can help students develop the skills they need to succeed.

In addition to seeing SCAA writing tutors, students can also request to drop-in or make an appointment with Helen Ly, SCAA's Multilingual/ESL/International Student Specialist during the following hours by calling (510) 885-3674 or by visiting the SCAA reception desk on the second floor of the University Library:

Monday - Thursday

10am - 12pm (drop-in or by appointment)

12-3pm (by appointment only)

ESL Resources

The following links to ESL internet resources are from various university and college web sites. Special thanks to Tacoma Community College. These can be used by tutors and students to help learn and improve English language skills.

GRAMMAR EXERCISES and QUIZZES

Many Things.org: http://www.manythings.org
This web site is for people studying English as a Second Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL). There are quizzes, word games, word puzzles, proverbs, slang expressions, anagrams, a random-sentence generator and other computer assisted language learning activities. Even though the primary focus is for ESL, native English speakers may also find some interesting things on this site. This site is non-commercial and has no advertising. TESL/TEFL teachers may want to recommend this site to their students.

ABOUT English Grammar Structures and Forms Quizzes and Tests for ESL EFL: http://esl.about.com/od/grammarquizzesandtests/ includes English grammar structures and forms quizzes and tests for beginning, intermediate, upper and advanced level ESL EFL English classes and learners.

Dave Sperling Presents The ESL Quiz Centerhttp://www.eslcafe.com/quiz includes some grammar quizzes (tense, prepositions, modals, count/noncount, subject/verb agreement, and more), but also quizzes on geography, history, idioms and slang, science, and world culture. Submit answers and the program shows you the correct answer and your score.

ESL Independent Study Lab: http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html is a very easy-to-use site that includes links to real-life sites that help with everything from pronunciation, vocabulary, reading, writing, and listening comprehension, to grammar. The grammar section is organized by level (100 - 400) includes an incredible number of links to creative and fun sites.

Grammar Bytes: http://chompchomp.com/exercises.htm has clear explanations for grammar issues and accompanying interactive tutorials. However, the site is a little confusing for the user (the link named "interactive exercise" is actually the printable handout. The links titled "handout" are actually the exercises). Requires Adobe Reader.

Guide to Grammar and Writing: http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/ To find the quizzes, click on the pull down menu under "Ask Grammar, Quizzes, Search Devices," and click on the "170 + interactive quizzes." This is a HUGE selection of quizzes, and some are quite creative. This site includes quizzes on stylistic considerations, "notorious confusables," and structural flaws (comma splices, run ons, etc.). If you choose "Ask Grammar," you can ask a specific grammar question. "Grammar Log" archives all past questions and responses. It is indexed by topic, so you can search for previous discussions easily.

Houghten Mifflin ESL Ace Practice Tests: http://college.hmco.com/english/raimes/keys_writers/3e/students/ace/index.html has tests for Transfer Errors, Nouns and Articles, Verbs and Verbals, Sentence Structure, Prepositions in Idiomatic Expressions, and Frequently Asked ESL Editing Questions. Take the quiz, submit, and then receive your score, as well as explanations for each missed answer.

Karin's ESL PartyLand, The Quiz Center: http://www.eslpartyland.com/quiz%20center/quiz.htm is organized by Very Easy, Easy, Medium, and Difficult, there are a variety of grammar quizzes (the "Very Easy," and "Easy" are nicely organized bysetting, like "making dinner," "girl talk," "housework," and "going to a party").

Past-Simple: http://www.past-simple.com/ English grammar rules organized in an easy-to-follow flowchart format. Part of the Baylon.com website.

Purdue University ESL Resources, interactive grammar exercises: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/#exercises These are actual exercises rather than handouts, but they have to be pasted into a Word document or printed (there is no program in place to evaluate answers-have your tutor work with you!). The site includes articles, appositives, adjectives and adverbs, count and non-count nouns, subject/verb agreement, prepositions, sentence fragments, tense consistency, and a couple of spelling issues.

Self-Study Grammar Quizzes (a project of The Internet TESL Journal): http://a4esl.org/q/h/grammar.htmlhttp://a4esl.org/ you can find more quizzes, plus bilingual quizzes in 34 l a nguages! includes several easy, general quizzes to get you used to the quiz structure. Other quizzes include articles, functions, prepositions, cloze, pronouns, sentence structure, tag questions, verbs, sequence, and word choice. If you go the main site,

UVBC English Language Centre Study Zone: http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/ is a huge site of ESL quizzes. Choose your level (you may need to do a little searching if you can't identify your level right away). This site has intermediate to very advanced ESL help on topics of grammar, reading, and vocabulary, for example, help with "it" and "there" at the 200 level. Your score will appear at the top, and the incorrect answers will be erased for you to try again. If you click on "hint," it will fill in one of the words for you.

ABOUT Travel, Practical Solutions for Every Day Life Listening Quizzes: http://esl.about.com/library/quiz/bllisteningquiz.htm requires Realplayer (or any media player). These are quizzes where you listen to conversation or a single person talking about daily life issues. The listener then answers questions about these segments. Most of the segments are about work issues or involve conversation about travel.

English Language Listening Lab Online: http://www.elllo.org/ Welcome to ELLLO! On this site you can practice and learn English by listening to English speakers from all over the world, for free. Listening activities come with transcripts, quizzes, pictures, and audio that can be downloaded.

Free ESL short English Stories for ESL learners: http://www.rong-chang.com/qa2/index.html Each story includes reading comprehension quizzes (yes/no, "wh" questions, dic t ation), and a dictionary icon to click on when you want to look up a word. To listen to a story, simply click on the speaker icon.

Randall's Cyber Listening Lab: http://www.esl-lab.com/ offers free audio and video quizzes (including related software) for all levels of English learners - wonderful for practicing listening comprehension. There are tons of listening quizzes, organized by easy, medium, and difficult, and based on real-life situations.

ReadingEnglish.net: http://www.readingenglish.net a FREE reading program, this site connects to news stories/articles at the Voice ofAmerica SpecialEnglish site, rates the articles by difficulty, and indicates a word count. When reading the article, students can click on unknown words and get linked to a dictionary of their choice-English-English (choices include British or American English) for a dictionary definition. In addition, when in the VOA site, students can download the article for listening and read along while they are listening!

Repeat After Us: http://www.repeatafterus.com/ is an online library of copyright-free English texts and scripted recordings. Students can read along as they listen to a native speaker read poetry, children's stories, folk tales, and more. Different degrees of difficulty are indicated.

READING COMPREHENSION

Culture Shock: http://international.ouc.bc.ca/cultureshock/ Duncan Mason has written a very good article about culture shock. This is especially useful for students who are studying away from their home country now, or planning to do so in the future. The article includes illustrations, vocabulary, exercises and quizzes to help you understand culture shock and improve your English.

EnglishForum.com: http://www.englishforum.com is a comprehensive web portal with a wealth of resources for studentsand teachers of English (ESL/EFL): Interactive Exercises, Message Boards, ELT Book Catalogue, Good School Guide, Web Directory, World News, Learning and Teaching Links, Cool Tools, and Dictionary Look-Up (With Internet Explorer or Netscape. You can select any word on the page and a new window will open with a definition of that word from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary).

Extensive Reading Pages : http://extensiverea d ing.net/er/index.html is a web site dedicated to exploring all aspects of ER. It contains a large annotated bibliography of works on ER, information on how to start your own ER program, information on resources for ER such as graded readers, and even an interactive chat page for your questions and advice.

Impact Online: http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/Impact/index.html has Materials from 1994/5! A hyper textual news reader for intermediate and advanced ESL students. Here you will find many news stories to read. Each story has certain vocabulary items highlighted. You can click on any word to see its definition and to hear its pronunciation. Or you can use the Glossary at the end of the new story to see all of the words with their definitions at the same time.

TESTMAGIC.COM: http://www.testmagic.com/ offers help with many standardized tests, including the TOEFL. Its essay preparation section is excellent.

UVBC English Language Centre Study Zone: http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/ is a huge site of ESL quizzes. Choose your level (you may need to do a little searching if you can't identify your level right away). This site has intermediate to very advanced ESL help on topics of grammar, reading, and vocabulary. Example: help with "it" and "there" at the 200 level. Your score will appear at t he top, and the incorrect answers will be erased for you to try again. If you click on "hint," it will fill in one of the words for you.

ESLDesk, Spelling Quizzes: http://www.esldesk.com/esl-quizzes/index.htm includes spelling quizzes organized by most commonly used, most commonly misspelled, irregular verbs and nouns, and advanced word lists. Click on each word, and a popup will tell you the part of speech, definition, and short etymology.

VOCABULARY

1000 Most Common Words In English:http://esl.about.com/libra r y/vocabulary/bl1000_list1.htm This ESL vocabulary workshop includes a part of the 1000 most common words in English. Click on the links at the end of the page that lead to other pages that are included in this list of the 1000 most common words in English for ESL EFL English learners and teachers.

The Academic Wordlist: http://www.academicvocabularyexercises.com Developed by the School of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, this list can help ESL learners practice academic terminology. Use a dictionary (or use the site listed below) to find the definitions of the words. This list offers a thorough explanation of how to use the site and the different functions of the site. Click on "Most Frequented Words," and on each sub-list in the left-hand menu. You also have the choice to download the list as a rich text or p d f file, but please do not do this on a TCC computer. Seehttp://www.rong-chang.com/awl01.htm for concise definitions of many of these words.

Auto-English: http://perso.wanadoo.es/autoenglish/includes materials in two formats: Web-based and interactive, or print-out. Covers Vocabulary, writing, grammar, idioms, and a flashcard library.

ESL-G o Free English: http://www.eslgo.com/ has free English grammar and vocabulary classes based on topics like sports, Harry Potter, the stock market, music, and more. There are also ESL quizzes and English practice message boards, as well as resources for language teachers.

ESL Independent Study Lab: http://www.lclark.edu/~krauss/toppicks/toppicks.html is a very easy-to-use site includes links to real-life sites that help with everything from pronunciation, vocabulary, reading, writing, and listening comprehension, to grammar. The vocabulary section, with a choice between levels 100 and 200, includes an incredible number of links to creative and fun sites.

Everyday English: http://www.everydayenglish.com/ is a good resource for vocabulary building and in c ludes listening lessons that you can download. There are also exercises for different skill levels including work with prepositions and verbs.

Flash Card Exchange: http://www.flashcardexchange.com/index.php Create flash cards for quick review. You can also use the online cards from other teachers, download for later use, or print them. Great for vocabulary review!

Self-Study Quizzes for ESL Students: http://a4esl.org/q/h/ offers vocabulary quizzes and grammar quizzes as well as links for teachers and students.

UVBC English Language Centre Study Zone:http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/ is a huge site of ESL quizzes. Choose your level (you may need to do a little searching if you can't identif y your level right away). This site has intermediate to very advanced ESL help on topics of grammar, reading, and vocabulary.Example: help with "it" and "there" at the 200 level. Your score will appear at the top, and the incorrect answers will be erased for you to try again. If you click on "hint," it will fill in one of the words for you.

WRITING and COMPOSITION

Using English for Academic Purposes: http://www.uefap.co.uk/writing/writfram.htm includes information on most academic writing issues, such as process, questions, research, organization, function, paragraph, plagiarism, reporting, references, citation, punctuation, and spelling. The site includes exercises and a check list.

Writing Resources for English Language Learners: http://www.ohiou.edu/esl/english/writing/index.html Ohio University's ESL department offers excellent information for ESL students about college writing in English, including the writing process, mechanics, organization and style, and research and writing. The best piece here is "Writing for Special Purposes," such as essay exams, application letters and essays, business letters, and resumes.